xilddx

[quote name='Alun' timestamp='1423175093' post='2681968'] Ethan Farmer added on the Sunday :-) "Working with some of the biggest stars in the business, like Lionel Richie, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys and many more, Ethan will offer LBGS visitors an insight into how to become one of the coolest bass players in the industry and the chance to see his incredible talent and bass-style in person." [/quote] Wow!! Can't wait to get me a tickit!

It's all about the balance point.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1423173736' post='2681927'] This. I still have the whole show on CD. [/quote] Link it! Or has the radio show got a podcast? Congratulations!

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1423180182' post='2682052'] Awesome! I'll be checking that out when I get to the Jazz numbers I wanna lay down! [/quote] You may well need to lay down

There is something called Anusol if you need the jazz backing tracks.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1423170416' post='2681839'] Perish the thought.... [/quote] I've seen the evidence of people on youtube playing whatever bass line, and I listen and it sounds unlike like the original, with the tricky bits missing, or played like each note has been dead for a very long time. So I suppose it depends on whether you can play a bass line and make it sound GOOD (subjectivity disclaimer) that really counts. Some of the simplest bass lines are the hardest because they depend on feel rather than athletics. So far, this thread seems to have been mostly about the athletics

All bass lines are hard until you've played them a hundred times Or is this another one of them basschat wanger-waving contests

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1423131168' post='2681051'] I played with an "elite" guitarist many years ago and what I got from that experience was invaluable. We never discussed the hardware. You were expected to have a certain level of equipment but gear wasn't even in the top 10 of interests. I learnt to focus, strive and shine, be original and reliable. I learnt that thinking about bass lines was more important than playing them. You learn to quietly and quickly raise your game or you know the phone calls will evaporate. If you have the ability and right mind set a good pro player can push you to be a far better player than you'll ever be on your own, and none of it ever relates to frigging speaker sizes, etc. [/quote] Bang on from my POV.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1423092081' post='2680810'] Horse for course... [/quote]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1423091835' post='2680804'] A bowl of heroin?? What do you think you are doing?? [/quote] Heroin is a crutch best avoided.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1423091602' post='2680794'] Please stop showing pictures of booze - I'm a recovering alcoholic! [/quote]

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1423091231' post='2680789'] [/quote]

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1423083418' post='2680602'] from the limited reading of the "Compression" threads and a couple of comments about other pro's, i think it's probably important to consider that there is a fairly big culture clash between, knowledgeable top of their game professionals from the USA (i am 100% NOT being racist!!) and the way they will be used to be treated in their natural environment, and what the majority of Basschatters are used to expressing on here. We Basschatters are used to debating and discussing, saying the wrong thing and backtracking in a polite way, or providing evidence to justify our view. These guys are highly knowledgeable professionals who are probably sat at the other end of the conversation wondering whether they should give an hour of their time to explain why their POV is right (even though most of us lack the knowledge to understand what they are saying in the case of Bill Fitzmaurice). We should take our time to investigate what they are saying rather than arguing with them. Taking the Vail Johnson situation as an example, we might see his language used as arrogant, but from his culture as a high end pro with a few decades of experience in the US music business, if he states something as fact, to him it is fact. Why should he listen to people who, whilst incredibly knowledgeable, haven't been there and done it (i am aware I am making a MASSIVE GENERALISATION so please if you have been there and done it I apologise for offending you!). Sure he maybe didn't take into account what it's like to be playing a 50-200 person gig at your local venue, but he was obviously just trying to make a point about people incorrectly using a compressor to cover up dodgy playing and if you want to "make it" then get your playing to the level that you don't have to rely on a compressor (because at some point a studio will ask you not to use a compressor and they'll find out you can't play without one). His comment was brashly stated (this is part of that culture clash, try to put yourself in the shoes of a professional recording player in Nashville), but the response seemed to assume he was saying that if you are using a compressor you can't play properly and reacted in an OTT defensive way (again MASSIVE GENERALISATION and i apologise if this offends you). I for one would prefer to hear the POV of a high end professional and spend my time researching why and how they do it that way. Obviously there are infinite ways of doing things and you have to be flexible (if you had the same set up at the Dog and Duck, and 2,000 seat arena, you'd want to have a good think about what you're doing...). I'm sure i'll have said something that annoys someone, but I only mean for this to be an encouragement to consider what it must be like for a decent pro to come and give advice and then have it questioned. They shouldn't be treated as a demi-god, but we should take the time to consider why they have said it and research why we disagree. Maybe even try out their suggestion for a few weeks and see what happens. Hope i've said this right...... [/quote] Brilliant post

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1423079604' post='2680521'] Celeb members tend to see the site turn into the bass worlds very own Hello magazine online when it's known who they are...odd considering [/quote]

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1423079493' post='2680517'] And off it all goes again - I have no doubt that there are some very good musicians on here (& one or two 'names' hiding in the wings), but none of us should be above a discussion - this 'my way or the highway' crap is juvenile in the extreme........ [/quote] Agree. But then ...

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1423079230' post='2680510'] We've learned that they don't stick around when people are keen to have a pop at them and since we are talking mere days in a few cases, who knows what they could have contributed. But I'm damn sure that anyone who plays at some of those levels could impart some knowledge that could be useful.. Its not like we know everything, that's for sure... you've only got to look at most of the threads.. [/quote] But yes, they could impart some very useful knowledge. Given the way this thread's gone I'm not sure anyone knows [i]what[/i] though.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1423076972' post='2680454'] Which is what we've ( collectively ) done over and over. [/quote] Yes but not all for the same reason. What I remember is (hopefully correctly) .. I remember the Mani thread, IIRC there were some dozy questions, lots of welcomes, not a lot useful, just, I love me Rickenbackers. Yolanda Charles probably got inundated, as I imagine Mani did. Probably a ton of PMs. Janek had too many spats and then had the piss taken excessively by tBBC. Guy P was referred to in an anecdote about telling some iffy jokes and people jumped on the bandwagon. Vail Johnson (who virtually no-one here had heard of, think I remember reading about him in '80s US guitar mags, completely forgotten about him though) made a very bold statement and got pounced on, fairly IMO but a bit too viciously. Dunno what's happened to Jerry Scheff, but he refuted HJ's neggy book review and they became friendly. Lemmy called discreet a w***er and couldn't believe the tornado-level backlash and got frightened off .. Who else has been on here? What have we learned from them?

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1423045219' post='2679854'] How can anyone, who watches this, say the music has no heart and soul? Ok, you might not like the band, but to say it's lacking heart and soul is just wrong! [/quote] Some people's opinions are wrong mate

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1423011082' post='2679668'] If you'd have said that on a guitar forum no one would have batted an eyelid - very many guitarists think their instrument is all about expression. I wonder what that tells us about the way bassists think? That our job is just about holding things together? There are plenty of session players who are first call precisely because of the way they express themselves, otherwise producers would just programme in the bass themselves! [/quote] I hadn't really considered that maybe many on here think their role is that limited. Interesting.

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1423009685' post='2679657'] If it's their input on gear that people are interested in, surely it's the bass techs that you'd have just as much interest in as the pro players. [/quote] Totally agree. That was exactly my point on another thread. [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]It would be much more [b]useful[/b] on here to have professional techs, sound engineers, luthiers, recording engineers, producers, tour managers etc. than pro players.[/font][/color]

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1423009439' post='2679655'] I'm striving to become a pro, whatever you define pro as, and currently gear doesn't bother me all that much. I want a couple of basses that cover most sounds that all have a nice neck and sound good and that's me done. Amp wise I want something I can move about with ease and sounds good, pedal wise, well I don't own any pedals at all currently! [b]FWIW, I HATE compression in my live chain, I control my own dynamics [/b] [/quote] Stop that! Seriously, it all depends what music you're playing. I need a little compression on some gigs and plenty on others. Depends on the level of dynamics you need for whatever band. As amateurs I think we have to be more adaptable given that we will be using random sound systems and FOH people.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1422958364' post='2678739'] I can fully understand that a guy can want to set a limit on how 'available' he has to be... You play in the band and you want that interaction at the gig but when you go home you have your real life. Why do fans think they are owed anymore than what the product being sold is... Fans are fans... they buy albums and see shows but how much more they feel they deserve, is their problem, not the players. Anymore than that, and we aren't talking mere fans, IMO. Seems weird to me.... [/quote] I completely agree. But I think it's human nature mate. OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!! I met Alex Lifeson!!! He was so NIIIICE!!!! OMG!!! They be dining out on that for a year

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1423008269' post='2679641'] Probably not that much in terms of gear unless they've got hold of some gear that's still in development, but I'd imagine their experience in certain situations might be enlightening. Even if most of us would never find ourselves in that position. [/quote] You have to be in touch with what you want to achieve as a musician/bassist. I've been told on here more than once that my assertion that we should be learning to express ourselves through music and chosen instrument is bollocks. So where does that leave us in terms of learning from a pro's experiences? Is it mostly a technical exercise for some of us?

You'll notice that's the SANTA BARBARA Independent

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1423007204' post='2679628'] The thing is that "Pro" covers a whole range of people, from people like ( for example) Anthony Jackson & Pino who are held in high regard by both other pros & amateurs alike to people who just happen to be pro because they got lucky with whatever band they are in, and might actually not know as much or be as proficient on the instrument as many people on here are. In that respect I'd say that just because somebody is a "pro" doesn't mean they'll necessarily have anything more to offer than any committed amateur. [/quote] Depends on what you want or need to learn though doesn't it? I'd be much more interested in how they developed their musical aesthetic, for example. And how they developed their skills and facility to achieve what they had in their head. And how they feel their aesthetic has changed over the years and how they accommodated it. How they worked to meet the needs of their band or bandleader. Such things like that. I could learn from Guiggsy. I really couldn't care less about their equipment anymore. I've learned enough about kit from other Basschat members and have what I need now. YMMV